It's through hearing my nanas experiences and the experiences of her mother and those of that time and earlier before them had their culture and native tongue suppressed and vilified, to say the very least.
My first hearing of my great grandmother's experiences from my grandmother herself, I felt a grave pain inside of me, not necessarily for my great grandmother's experiences as a person but I felt deep loss in my pit of being for Maori as a collective.
It's the all too common story of Maori being physically, verbally abused by teachers at school. This was considered an appropriate measure to receive when one was heard speaking Te Reo. To place myself in my ancestors shoes, is a painful place to travel. The effects of this on a personal (mental, emotional, relationship with self and world around) are horribly tremendous. The systemic effects it has had leaches over the generations in a socio-economic way but also genetically (yes trauma in our DNA is passed along).
The fact that the colonalist came to our land and disrupted our people and want to break apart our culture proves to me that what we have is a power in birthright, a power in whakapapa, a power in connection and a power in our Te Reo Maori.
This is the reason I want to weave Te Reo Maori into my life more so and continue to learn Te Reo. My intention of passing along my cultures language to my future children.
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